Hyte X50 PC case review

From a company that specialised in plastering its cases with anime characters, the X50 is, somehow, its most ostentatious PC case yet. Let's just say it has a look, a strong look, and one crying out for an equally flashy build within. There's more to this case than a gaudy form; it's well suited to housing a pretty powerful PC in pink. If you don't mind paying a pretty penny—okay, I'll stop now.

Available in Snow White (white), Pitch Black (black), Wild Cherry (red), Taro Milk (purple), Strawberry Milk (pink, as reviewed), and Matcha Milk (green), it's actually a pretty tough decision to choose between them all. To make your decision all the more difficult, it also comes in two variants: with a glass side panel (X50) or without (X50 Air). Oh, and the milk options come with little round feet, while the rest feature long, flat feet—decisions, decisions.

Nailed at $160 in the US, the X50 is not the cheapest case around, especially for the lack of any included fans. It is a little cheaper outside of the US, however, to the tune of around $10 or the local equivalent, as Hyte is still wrestling with price disruption from tariffs. The company had largely dropped prices back to pre-tariff pricing earlier in the year, though some cases remain inflated, and the X50 is seemingly one of those affected.

The X50 Air is considerably cheaper than the X50 for its perforated side panel, to match the front and rear side, at the equivalent of $120 worldwide or $130 in the US.

The X50 is not hugely price competitive with other similar sized chassis. The cases that Hyte has cherry-picked to compare it to include some amount of fans pre-installed, such as the Lian Li Lancool III or NZXT H7 Flow, whereas the X50 does not. So that's an added cost here. I can go one further with the cases I've personally reviewed in recent months, such as the Phanteks Eclipse G400A at $110 and Asus ProArt PA401 at $130—both good-looking cases with fans included for less—or the Corsair Frame 4000D at $95 with no fans included but a much lower price tag.

You can pick up colour-matched fans from Hyte, specifically the FA12, available in a handy four-pack for $40. I have eight of these in Strawberry Milk for testing, or $80 worth. They perform pretty great in terms of pure airflow through the rpm range, which means they're easy enough to tune to lower speeds and noise levels with a fan curve while maintaining admirable performance. You're going to want to do that, too, as they are pretty loud at top speed (which is only a tepid 1500 rpm).

Onto the case proper, and it's a fairly small chassis by today's standards. I measure it at 51.3 x 25.7 x 51.7 cm (H x W x L). Definitely desktop-sized if you wanted to store it in plain view atop of your desk, which seems likely with a case so bulbous and, er, I wanna say eye-catching?

There's a gorgeous curve to the windowed side panel on the X50, reaching from the side panel, up and over two thirds of the top of the case, stretching all the way over to the IO panel with two USB 3.2 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports and a single USB 3.2 (20 Gbps) Type-C port. This panel slides up and off—the rear panel works the same way—which keeps the exterior of the case clear of any screws. You'll want to keep a cloth close by to get rid of any fingerprints on the glass, however, as you will likely have to handle the glass to get it fitted back into place.

The front panel has a perforated finish and only gives way slightly under pressure. Altogether, it feels really solid, as does the rest of the case, thanks to some clever venting on the rear IO that Hyte calls 'Louvered Blade Ventilation'. The front panel also doubles as a dust filter, which is to say, there's no filter underneath. Dust should be collected on that outer surface, meaning it likely only needs a quick wipe down every so often, though I've not had the case for long enough to really test it out for myself.

This front panel reduces airflow to the innards (with front-mounted fans) by around 0.6 m/s—which is a somewhat significant amount but not totally unusual for a case in my own testing. The same reduction applies to the rear side panel, too, which is important if you plan to stick any fans besides the motherboard.

This case has plenty of room for fans. We're spoiled for choice. There's space for up to 3x 120/140 mm fans in the front of this chassis, 3x 120 mm to the side of the motherboard, and another 3x 120 mm in the bottom. The bottom also includes a magnetic dust filter attached to the outside of the case. Then there's 1x 120 mm in the rear for exhaust.

For my test build, I opted first for what I thought would be the most beneficial layout for airflow: three intake fans in the front, three intake fans in the bottom, and one exhaust fan in the rear. Though, being such a good guy, I've also tested other likely configurations. Here are the results:

Test build
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | Motherboard: Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi 7 Ice | RAM: Crucial Pro 64 GB DDR5-6000 | SSD: Biwin X570 Pro | Graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Eagle | Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 612 Apex | PSU: Corsair RM850x

After the sixth test with near-enough the exact same results, I called it. You can't really go too wrong here, as nearly every config landed me within a few degrees of any other. Though for a smashing appearance, I'd argue for three intake fans in the bottom, three to the side of the motherboard, and one as exhaust out the rear. It's just a shame Hyte doesn't sell reverse versions of the FA12 fans, as it'd look a lot better with all the fans facing inwards. The backside of the FA12 is pretty ugly, which is a shame for a case so prepossessing.

There's no room in the top of the case for a liquid cooler's radiator, as that's taken up by the power supply. You're better off mounting it to the side of the motherboard, which isn't too far to go for most liquid coolers in this compact case, with the fans exhausting out of the back panel.

I can see why Hyte has chosen the top-mounted PSU here, as the case would have to be made wider to make room for one in the rear chamber or risk cutting off height to the CPU cooler, of which mine only just fits already. Though I'm not a huge fan of the end result. It feels pretty retro, which isn't out of character for the case, but it also blocks a good part of the windowed side panel and feels a little out of place above the motherboard. Maybe if the lower edge was more rounded to give a floating appearance I'd be more into it?

That said, the main issue with this approach is cable length. The Corsair RM850x PSU I'm using here has a native 12V-2x6 connector that only just reaches from the PSU, round the back of the case, through to the front, and then underneath the graphics card. And you really want this connection to be secure and, if possible, not at a weird angle. I couldn't really manage that here, due in part to the length of my cable and also the position of the PSU.

Hyte includes plenty of velcro straps to tidy up cables in the rear of the case, with extras included in the box. There are no cable management channels, however, and the approach is a bit minimal compared to some modern cases. The cables are covered up with excellent colour-matched rubber grommets leading to the front-side of the case. All except the cutout below the motherboard, which looks a bit slapdash as a result.

The X50 might be cutesy and compact but it offers wide compatibility for cooling and components. In that sense, it's not form over function like some eye-catching alternatives. But it's not objectively pretty, either. I've asked around our team and it fell a bit flat, even with the members of the team that enjoy some of Hyte's weebier cases. But you might be more susceptible to its charm than any of us.

The Hyte X50 dares to do differently in a world of pretty plain boxes that let RGB lighting effects do all the heavy lifting for them. It's the antithesis of most cases today: bright, colourful, retro, and rounded. I feel like some builders will be very into it, but most won't. It could be stunning as a part of a wider themed cozy desktop, or it could look out of place alongside more serious kit. It seems to be a perfect base for modding and further personalisation, but that depends on who gets their hands on it.